Ramona and Howie
by Fahiru
Summary: It was not his fault if she exaggerated. It was not his fault if she was not having fun. If the stilts broke, if Willa Jean threw a fit, if a guest was insulted, if Beezus cried for a week; it was not his fault. Because there was always Ramona, and Ramona did everything.
1. 1

The worm wasn't really that important. He remembered the day she got stuck in the mud, when that big boy that Beezus knew came and saved her, he remembered that part, because it was exciting. He remembered that.

But there was always something off about the memory. Sometimes he would stop whatever he was doing- washing the dishes, cleaning his room, doing his homework, playing in her front yard- and he would try to catch the memory like a kite string, anchor it down and chase it to the end. And at the end, there was always a worm. He didn't know why the worm was important, he didn't have any strong feelings towards worms, but he knew one thing about that worm. He had thought that the worm was for him, but it was kept by someone else. Maybe it was _for_ someone else.

And then he would drop the dish-cloth or toy truck or text book or brick, and give a frustrated huff. Why was the worm so important? It was just a stupid worm.


	2. 2

He had never liked Davie all that much. He wasn't fun and he wasn't creative and he always spent the afternoon being chased around by girls. One year they had to sit next to each other. Davie always asked what he knew about sports and TV and cereal brands. He would always shush him and try to keep doing his homework. Once, Davie asked about Ramona.

"Why do you hang out with her all the time? Doesn't she get annoying?"

He had kept right on matching the words in the box to their correct sentences. _The cat __**chased**__ the rat. _

"Why is she always so excited? Is it like, she drinks coffee or something? Why do you bother hanging around with her?"

_The rat __**avoided**__ the cat._

"Why does she like me so much? You're her friend or something, right? Why doesn't she chase _you_ instead? Don't _you_ like her?"

Howie raised his hand and asked for a bathroom pass. He stood in a stall studying his shoes until the lunch bell rang.

All through lunch he watched her as she chatted with everyone else on the table, trying to explain the significance of the banana sticker on her forehead. He wasn't listening, she had already told him about the sticker.

He didn't realize that he had forgotten to finish his work page until he was packing up to go home. He didn't like the last sentence, it wasn't very imaginative, and it was a bad ending.

_The cat __**caught**__ the rat._

And he didn't know why. He guessed he liked her, he didn't see a reason not to. And of course she liked him.

Davie was a dumb kid. He didn't talk about tools and cars and didn't think things through.

But neither did she.


	3. 3

"What're you gonna do when you grow up?"

He was a little mad. They hadn't finished singing all the way through ninety-nine bottles of beer, and here she disrupted progress with an unrelated question.

"C'mon! Watcha gonna be?"

He started singing again, trying to turn and glare at her as he did, but the yarn in his hand snapped and he fell down instead. She got off her own stilts and waited as he re-looped the string through his coffee can.

"A guy who fixes stuff, I guess."

"Like at the auto-shops? Like in those commercials?"

He thought for a moment before he solemnly shook his head. "No, I'm gonna be like my dad."

She tilted her head to the side. "What does he fix?"

"Everything. Not just light-bulbs and toys, but he fixes the table and sink and roof too." He was getting excited.

"Will you wear coveralls?"

He went on, not even hearing her question. "And especially, I'll be one of those guys who's always out underneath the car when you pass their house. And if you listen carefully, you could hear me humming old jingles as I fix the engine."

"Isn't that just being a dad?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Is it?"

She nodded. "Because that's what dads do. I think it's part of their job. And I think moms are their bosses. Moms pay them in cookies and kisses."

"Why kisses?"

"Maybe that's what he gets instead of cookies if he does a bad job. Do you want to get paid in cookies and kisses?"

"I don't know, I didn't think about being a dad..."

"Don't worry, Howie. You'll be a good dad."

"Well, sure, but...how do I get to be a dad?"

She got back up on her stilts. "I'm pretty sure you're born a dad. It's just something that happens with grown ups, so it's got nothing to do with us."

"But you said when we grow up-"

"How-ie, that's just something you ask for fun. That's something that'll never happen to us."

They started clumping along again, singing at the top of their lungs. But he was really letting her do most of the singing, because he was still thinking about what she said. _That's right,_ he smiled_, that never happens to us._


	4. 4

He couldn't remember when the other boy had come into the picture. It wasn't Henry, and it wasn't Davie, and it wasn't _him_.

Everyone called him "Yard Ape". He didn't know why. But he never asked about his real name, so he didn't know.

She didn't talk to him any more. They didn't play. They were older. She had another best friend, her name was Daisy.

And He was left not knowing what to do with himself.

Because there had always been Ramona.

And Ramona did everything.

So he had never had to.


	5. 5

It was after test week of tenth grade that it started raining.

He didn't know when he decided to do it, it seemed that one day he just woke up and knew it would happen.

That day, after he got home, he took some stilts from the back of Willa-Jean's closet(she didn't use them any more either), and went outside.

He knew she wasn't home. She had probably gone off with Daisy. All the more making this the best opportunity, before he became sensible again. It would be best if he just built up the habit, after all, this was more because she _wasn't_ there, and he had to do _something._

So he started marching on the stilts, up and down Klicketat Street, mumbling the song to himself as he went.

Willa-Jean was sleeping over at a friend's house, his parents and grandmother were away at a meeting. He didn't have to be back before dark.

So he wasn't.

He went up and down the street on stilts until late into the evening. He was exhausted. And he felt better.

So he kept doing it.

Every day after school he went out on the stilts, and no one came out and bothered him because it was raining.

So she never saw him.

He didn't want her to see him.

He didn't care if she saw him.

This wasn't for her.

This just made him feel better, and that was all.

But was was there to feel bad about?

It kept raining. He got a mild cold.

They didn't notice, so he didn't tell them. But his teachers noticed.

Because he flunked the test.


End file.
